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Sarasota
Monday, Dec. 16, 2013
1 year ago

Car crashes into Main Street storefront

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by:
David Conway
News Editor

A driver crashed a car through the window of a vacant Main Street storefront Sunday morning, but the property owner says the accident shouldn’t cause any setbacks in finding occupants for the building.

At about 2:45 a.m. Sunday, a vehicle crashed through the storefront at 1554 Main St., according to a crash report. The driver told officers she must have fallen asleep, because she didn't know what happened. She said she was driving home from Clasico Café and Bar, and an officer smelled alcohol on her breath. The driver failed a field sobriety test.

Entrepreneur Jesse Biter is the owner of the damaged property. He said he did not know the circumstances of the crash, but said the vehicle drove into the space formerly occupied by Sarasota Hardware and Paint Co.

Despite the accident, Biter said his plans for the property shouldn’t be affected. The only change is that his company will have to upgrade the building’s facade, he said. According to the crash report, the building's front window was broken out. Inside, the report states, the ceiling was sagging because a support beam was knocked over.

Biter said two or three different groups were interested in occupying the building, which he said was Ian Black Real Estate’s most called upon property. Although Biter couldn’t yet say what was going in the building, he said he would have an idea within the next three weeks of who would ultimately end up as tenants.